PATHWAY OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS THE CHRIST

With a tiny apology to those members of the Adult Religion Program Class that I direct on Tuesdays, I want to share with those who don’t have to put up with my weekly classroom babblings some thoughts stimulated by the talk by Neil A. Maxwell which we are currently discussing.

Neil A. Maxwell entitled his talk ‘Called to Serve,’ but as I was preparing the discussion points for the class seven areas of progression to becoming a complete disciple of Jesus the Christ formulated upon my senses. I will attempt to share with you a process which I, as one who is still but a neophyte in the journey to become converted and committed to the concept of adhering to the discipline taught by the Savior, am just beginning to comprehend and which may help us more fully understand that there is yet a great way to go before our journey is complete.

I feel that like all progression which is illustrated by charting and graphing, this process will look like one is suppose to complete area one before going to area two, etc. However, as we all know, our mortal progression isn’t presented to us in such a lock-step manner. I am sure we have all come to realize that we are continuously moving in various areas of our probation whether it be forward or backward. I find myself having to repeat some passages numerous times and there are some principles that I at present still find beyond my understanding and therefore difficult to inculcate into my life. With this acknowledgment of my own frailty, I will give my thoughts on the Seven Areas on the Pathway to Becoming a Disciple of Jesus the Christ.

As I have chosen to write these thoughts in the first person, I hasten to acknowledge that the use of this writing devise is in no way an indication that my personal progress has in any way approached the levels of discipleship that I am attempting to explain. I am fully aware that these thoughts are an exercise well in the limits of ‘as I say’ and not necessarily ‘as I do.’

Area One: As I am introduced to a tenet of discipleship and begin to gain understanding, something happens to my soul which constitutes a call to put this principle into my life with a corresponding beginning testimony that adherence will lead to a new and more abundant life. A whispering of the Spirit which leads me to believe that adherence will help me enjoy a greater amount of joy and peace during the trials and opportunities of the journey.

Area Two: I begin to make stumbling attempts to put into practice a particular principle at my current level of understanding and capabilities. It soon becomes apparent that this area will present me with constant new challenges and experiences within the realm of the same principle as my understanding increases and my capacities to do grow. I continually find that the covenants I once thought I had made as a disciple and what I had committed to do, expand, grow and even take on meanings I once never even imagined. Correspondingly I feel the strength of He who I am attempting to follow flowing upon me more abundantly and aiding me in my feebleness. I realize my testimony is likewise growing and that which I once thought was ‘all there is’ was but a small understanding in a very large and yet little envisioned library of Omniscience.

Area Three: The nature of my striving to progress within the first two areas of learning and trying to understand principles of discipleship and then attempting to make them a permanent part of my character becomes a self-spurring stimulus which drives me to a greater determination of dedication to discipleship. I find a thirst and hunger to know ‘what He would have me do’ a greater desire to gain the skills necessary to more closely do ‘what Jesus would do.’ My testimony continues to be strengthened as I get small here and there glimpses of how to do ‘as he would have me do.’

Area Four: As I struggle to increase my discipleship by attempting to adhere to the processes in areas one through three, I begin to understand that there are parts of me which can only be made holy as I sacrifice them to an increasingly consuming desire to dedicated discipleship. I begin to understand what the Master meant when He admonished me to put off my naturalness. I catch a glimpse of how I must loose myself. I realize the condemnation which comes as a result of striving to satisfy the endless requests of ‘I’ and ‘Me.’ I begin that more difficult part of the journey which involves a life founded upon putting off ‘selfishness’ and putting on ‘selflessness.’ A strange miracle begins to take place in my being as I witness an internal change as love given flows back to me in never repayable quantities. I find that as I begin to have a less self-centered life and center my life in Christ and his ‘pathway of discipleship,’ love begins to flow into and out from my ‘living testimony’ in magnified ways I never knew to be possible.

Area Five: I am consumed with the desire to become everything that one who has committed to discipleship should become. I determine to be an example of the believer, one who is a latter-day-saint in more than just name. I begin to be overwhelmed and at the same time comforted with what it means to take upon me His name and remember Him always. My testimony begins to reach unbelievable heights as I find myself doing His works and adding to His Glory.

Area Six: I find myself increasingly open to the lasting changes He is desirous of pouring out upon me through His mercy. I now understand that becoming Christlike is indeed impossible for me, but nothing is impossible for Him. I comprehend that eternal changes can only be ‘wrought’ upon one through the grace of Christ ‘after all we have done.’ I no longer believe that my seeking and striving to become a total disciple will be sufficient but I must wait patiently for His gift ‘the mighty change.’ I begin to have a testimony in areas which include my repentance and His expiation but extend and broaden my understanding of how He is my Savior and Redeemer.

Area Seven: I become open and readied for that final moment when consecration becomes an active part of the pathway of my daily walk. I gladly and completely allow my will to be swallowed up in the will of the Father. I discover my testimony to be in a strange way no longer as much mine as His.

As I contemplate the immenseness of the challenge that entering upon the pathway of a disciple of Christ brings into one’s life, I am grateful that we were given the First Estate (our premortal existence) and are given in different measures this Second Estate (mortality) and will be given whatever is needed in the Next Estate (spirit world) to have God’s work and glory worked upon us as he continues to bring about our immortality and Eternal Lives. I am likewise grateful for the desire he has wrought upon me to complete as much of this Everlasting journey today as time and circumstances allow me. This day, as most, I indeed stand all amazed. My prayer is that my amazement will increasingly foster my desire to increase my discipline as I struggle to walk upon the Pathway of a Disciple of Jesus the Christ.